Woody formed article and method for producing the same

ABSTRACT

A woody formed article, characterized as being produced by admixing a woody material W and, as a binding agent, a fibrous and/or ribbon shaped thermoplastic resin R which is easy to be intertwined with the woody material W, and molding the resultant mixture. The thermoplastic resin R is preferably admixed in a state of being heated and melted. A method for producing a woody formed material, characterized in that it comprises providing a mat M of a raw material mixture Mx of a woody material W and a fibrous and/or ribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin R and subjecting the mat M to heat pressing, or comprises, in admixing the woody material W with the above fibrous thermoplastic resin R, stretching and thinning the resin R by means of a hot wind and/or a cold wind pressure, and admixing homogeneously it with the woody material W by utilizing a negative pressure zone due to the hot wind and/or the cold wind, to prepare a mat M of a raw material mixture Mx, and then subjecting the mat M to pressing.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a woody formed article and method forproducing the same.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Up to now, to produce a woody formed article in which woody materialsuch as wood powder and the like and thermoplastic resin are mixed, amethod consisting of melting said thermoplastic resin by employing suchas an extruder, heating and melting type kneader, and the like, addingwoody material such as wood powder to said melted thermoplastic resin tomix, and forming the resulting mixture into a formed article byextrusion molding or a method consisting of hot-pressing a mixture ofsaid woody material and chip or pellet of said thermoplastic resin hasbeen provided. As said woody material, fine woody material such ascrushed waste paper have been used besides said wood powder. Theresulting woody formed article is useful as building boards and materialfor furniture.

In a case where said woody material is added to said meltedthermoplastic resin at a high temperature and pressure as describedabove, many kinds of sugar, lignin and the like originally contained insaid woody material come out in said melted thermoplastic resin andfurther said components coming out from said woody material aredispersed wholly in said melted thermoplastic resin by kneading actionof the screw of an extruder and the like under a high pressure. As aresult, a problem that said thermoplastic resin is degraded by saidcomponents has arisen, and in the case where said thermoplastic resin isdegraded, desirable hardness and strength of the resulting formedarticle can not be ensured, and the resulting formed article has poortoughness to be brittle and further has poor weather resistance, causingchalking by being exposed to ultraviolet rays outdoors.

Further in a case where said thermoplastic resin chip or pellet is mixedin said woody material, it is difficult to mix uniformly said woodymaterial and said thermoplastic resin under room temperature and in acase where crushed waste paper is used as a woody material, a lightwoody formed article which can be used in place of plywood, OSB, and thelike which use thermosetting resin and have excellent strength isdifficult to obtain since said crushed waste paper has a big specificsurface area so that a big amount of thermoplastic resin as a binder isnecessary and as a result the density of the resulting formed articlebecomes high.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

To solve said problems of said conventional arts, the present inventionprovides a woody formed article produced by forming a mixture Mx ofwoody material W and fibrous and/or ribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin R.

It is desirable that said fibrous and/or ribbon-shaped thermoplasticresin R is heated to melt and then mixed with said woody material in amelted state. Further, said fibrous and/or ribbon-shaped thermoplasticresin R produced by using scrapped resin articles can be used in thepresent invention. Furthermore, said woody material is desirably woodflakes.

To produce said woody formed article, a raw material mixture Mx in whichsaid woody material W and said fibrous and/or ribbon-shapedthermoplastic resin R are contained is press-molded. To put itconcretely, said raw material mixture containing said woody material andfibrous and/or ribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin is strewed on aconveyer moving to a designated direction directly or on mold panels puton said conveyer to form mats and said mats are formed. Uneven patternsmay be formed on one or both side(s) of said mats by embossing. Further,said raw material mixture is desirably prepared by mixing fibrous and/orribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin being heated and melted in said woodymaterial by extruding said thermoplastic resin in fibrous shape from anorifice of an extruder's die. Said woody material is desirably suppliedcontinuously from one side or both sides to said melted, extrudedthermoplastic resin to mix. Still further, said melted thermoplasticresin extruded from said orifice of said extruders' die in fibrous shapemay be stretched and thinned by hot wind pressure and/or cold windpressure and said stretched and thinned fibrous thermoplastic resin maybe mixed in said woody material in a melted state. Said die of saidextruder has desirably a plural number of orifices arranged in one or aplural number of row(s) and a plural number of dies may be equipped insaid extruder. Generally the caliber of said orifice of said die is inthe range of between 0.2 and 2.0 mm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 to 28 relate EMBODIMENT of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a figure to illustrate a mixing process of fibrousthermoplastic resin and woody material.

FIG. 2 is a figure to illustrate a mixing process of fibrousthermoplastic resin and woody material in another embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an illustrating side view of a former.

FIG. 4 is an illustrating side view of a former in another embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an illustrating side view of a former in still anotherembodiment.

FIG. 6 is a figure showing a state in which melted fibrous thermoplasticresin is intertwined with and adheres to woody material.

FIG. 7 is a illustrating side view of still another former.

FIG. 8 is a figure to illustrate a producing process of a woody formedarticle in which mold panel, hot roll press, and cold roll press areused.

FIG. 9 is a figure to illustrate a producing process of a woody formedarticle in which hot roll press and cold roll press are used.

FIG. 10 is a front view illustrating a state before pressing.

FIG. 11 is a side view illustrating a pressing state.

FIG. 12 is a figure to illustrate the structure of a formed mat afterhot-pressing.

FIG. 13 is a figure to illustrate a hot press machine.

FIG. 14 is a figure to illustrate a cold press machine.

FIG. 15 is a figure to illustrate extruding and discharging process ofthermoplastic resin.

FIG. 16 is an illustrating cross-sectional view of an orifice of an die.

FIG. 17 is an illustrating figure showing arrangement of orifices of adie.

FIG. 18 is an illustrating figure showing the state in which meltedthermoplastic resin is intertwined with and adheres to woody material.

FIG. 19 is a figure to illustrate the intertwining state of rawmaterials using a die having a plural number of orifices arranged in aplural number of rows.

FIG. 20 is a figure to illustrate the intertwining state of rawmaterials using a die having a plural number of orifices arranged inthree rows.

FIG. 21 is a figure to illustrate stretching and thinning process ofextruded, melted thermoplastic resin by blowing hot wind and cold wind.

FIG. 22 is a figure to illustrate stretching and thinning process byblowing hot wind and cold wind in another embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a figure to illustrate stretching and thinning process byblowing hot wind and cold wind in a case where a plural number of diesare arranged in a plural number of steps.

FIG. 24 is an illustrating figure of heating process of woody material.

FIG. 25 is an illustrating figure of mixing process of raw materials ina case where woody material supplying conveyers and dies are arranged ina plural number of steps.

FIG. 26 is an illustrating figure of another embodiment of woodymaterial supplying conveyers.

FIG. 27 is an illustrating figure of woody material supplying conveyerin still another embodiment,

FIG. 28 is an illustrating figure of woody material supplying conveyerin yet another embodiment.

[AN EXPLANATION OF CODES]  7 a conveyor 10 a mold panel 13A, 14A acompression roll press 13B, 14B a hot roll press 13C, 14C a cold rollpress 16A, 16B an embossing roll 42, 52, 62 dies 43 an orifice Rthermoplastic resin W a woody material (wood flakes) Mx a raw materialmixture M a mat M′ a formed mat φ₁ an orifice's caliber φ₂ a diameter ofextruded thermoplastic resin after being stretched and thinned

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[Woody Materials]

Woody materials W used in the present invention include such as woodflakes, strands, wood powder, sawdust, wood fiber bundles, wood pulp,and the like. Woody materials W made from waste pieces from cuttingprocess or waste wood material produced when a wooden building is builtor rebuilt or taken down can be used in the present invention. Up tonow, said waste pieces and waste wood material have been incinerated butsaid incinerating treatment generates CO₂ gas causing temperature riseon the earth. Nevertheless, in the case where said waste pieces andwaste wood material W are reused as woody material of the presentinvention, said environmental load can be reduced.

Wood flakes are especially preferable woody material of the presentinvention. Said wood flakes are prepared by using the Ring Flaker(Pallmann Co.) in thin leaf shape of preferably the width from 0.5 to 20mm, the length from 1 to 50 mm, and thickness from 0.1 to 5 mm; morepreferably the width from 0.5 to 10 mm, length from 4 to 35 mm, andthickness from 0.1 to 2.5 mm; ideally the width from 4 to 8 mm, length20 to 25 mm, and thickness from 0.5 to 1 mm.

As described above, said woody material W can be made from waste woodmaterial, and said waste wood materials produced in rebuilding andtaking down are easily shaved into flake shape by the flaker. When saidwood flake contains water, vapor is generated from said wood flake inthe case of molding by heating and adhesion between said wood flake andsaid thermoplastic resin is obstructed by said vapor since vapor film isformed between said wood flake and said thermoplastic resin to obstructsaid, so that said wood flake is dried with a dryer to reduce its watercontent to less than 5% after said wood flake is made from the woodmaterial.

[Thermoplastic Resin]

Thermoplastic resin R for use in this invention includes polyethylene,polypropylene, ethylene/propylene copolymer, ethylene/propyleneterpolymer, ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer, poly vinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, polystyrene, polyvinyl acetate, fluororesin,thermoplastic acrylic resin, thermoplastic polyester, thermoplasticpolyamide, acrylonitrile/butadiene copolymer, styrene/butadienecopolymer, acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene copolymer and the like, andwaste articles made of said thermoplastic resin. Said thermoplasticresin R is used in the shape of fiber or ribbon. Said fibrousthermoplastic resin R is produced by such as a melt spinning method inwhich melted thermoplastic resin is extruded from the orifice of theextruder' die, a crushing method in which crushed waste articles made ofsaid thermoplastic resin are split into fibrous shape with a refiner,and a splitting method in which waste articles made of saidthermoplastic resin are split into fibrous shape with the refiner andwaste articles of said thermoplastic resin are desirably used in saidmelt spinning method. Especially useful sources of said waste articlesof said thermoplastic resin are such as thermoplastic resin sheets foragricultural use, thermoplastic resin bags for packing, thermoplasticresin fiber goods, cabinets for home-use electrical appliances, carbumpers, bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate and like since saidthermoplastic resin articles produce a large quantity of waste articles.

Ribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin is produced by such as splittingthermoplastic resin film into ribbon-shape with a shredder, and wastethermoplastic resin film or thermoplastic resin film made from meltedwaste articles of thermoplastic resin by an extrusion method or acalender method is desirably used as said thermoplastic resin film. Amixture of two or more kinds of fibrous and/or ribbon-shapedthermoplastic resin R may be used or in a case where said thermoplasticresin is melted to spin or to form film, two or more kinds ofthermoplastic resin R may be mixed to melt.

In the present invention, fibrous or ribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin Ris used as a binder for said woody material W and in this case two ormore kinds of thermoplastic resins can be mixed and used so that timeand labor for sorting can be saved.

[Use of Waste Articles]

In the present invention, waste woody formed articles are cut and/orshaved, crushed or split to produce woody material W of said woodyformed articles or woody cement boards. As described above, said woodyformed articles of the present invention can be recycled in a highefficiency and indirectly said thermoplastic resin R can be recycled ina high efficiency. Moreover, since said woody formed articles of thepresent invention are used as building boards, material for furniture,mold panels of concrete and the like in large quantities, so that alarge quantity of thermoplastic resin can be consumed to produce saidwoody formed article.

[Third Components]

Besides said woody material W and said fibrous and/or ribbon-shapedthermoplastic resin R, such as a water repellent agent, water proofingagent, antioxidant, coloring agent, agent giving a low viscosity, agentto improve adhesion and the like may be added to said woody formedarticle and in a case where two or more kinds of said thermoplasticresins R are mixed and melted and spun or formed into film, an agent toimprove compatibility may be added.

[Production of Woody Formed Articles]

To produce said woody formed article of the present invention, firstsaid woody material W and said fibrous and/or ribbon-shapedthermoplastic resin R are mixed together. Commonly, mixing ratio of saidwoody material W to said fibrous and/or ribbon-shaped thermoplasticresin R is settled to be in the range of between about 30:70 and 90:10in weight ratio.

In said mixing process since said fibrous and/or ribbon-shapedthermoplastic resin R is/are, intertwined with said woody material W,said thermoplastic resin R and said woody material W can be uniformlymixed without separating. Further, air is dragged into the mixture ofsaid thermoplastic resin R and said woody W material, and as a result,said mixture can contain plenty of air.

When said woody material W and said fibrous thermoplastic resin R aremixed together, a method in which said thermoplastic resin R is meltedand extruded from the orifice of the die of the extruder (1)continuously or intermittently to be cooled by air as shown in FIG. 1 orif necessary, by being made to pass through the water cooler (2) asshown in FIG. 2, said thermoplastic resin R is added to said woodymaterial W filled in the mixer (3) such as an Irich mixer, and mixed bystirring; or a method in which said thermoplastic resin R is melted andextruded in fibrous shape from the orifice of the die of the extruder(1) and said woody material W is supplied to said melted thermoplasticresin R extruded in fibrous shape from one side just before a mat M isformed as shown in FIG. 3; or a method in which said woody material W issupplied from both sides to said melted thermoplastic resin R in fibrousshape extruded from the orifice (1B)of the die (1A) as shown in FIG. 4;and the like are desirably applied.

To extrude said melted thermoplastic resin R intermittently, a method inwhich the orifice (1B) of the die (1A) is intermittently shut and openedwith moving vanes arranged inside of said die (1A); or a method in whichnumbers of dies (1A) are equipped in the extruder and an electromagneticvalve is equipped in the head of each die (1A) and said electromagneticvalves are repeatedly shut and opened one by one; or a method in whichair is blown into the die head to cut said fibrous thermoplastic resinby air pressure; or a method in which the screw of the extruder isintermittently moved, are applied. When said melted thermoplastic resinis extruded intermittently from the extruder, said melted thermoplasticresin R is extruded in short fiber.

In a case where said method in which said melted thermoplastic resin isextruded in fibrous shape from the extruder and said woody material isadded to it, is applied, said melted thermoplastic resin R isintertwined with and adheres to said woody material W ununiformly sincesaid fibrous thermoplastic resin R is mixed with said woody material Wmaintaining its melted state.

Further in a case where said woody material W and said ribbon-shapedthermoplastic resin R are mixed together, said ribbon-shapedthermoplastic resin R is desirably mixed in a melted state. In thiscase, said ribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin R is intertwined with andadheres to said woody material W ununiformly.

In a case where said fibrous or ribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin Rintertwined with and adheres to said woody material W ununiformly asdescribed above, lots of air is drawn into a mat when said mat isformed, and after said mat is pressed and then even a small quantity ofair is extruded from said mat, the resulting molded mat M′ has manyvoids so that a light product is obtained.

To produce a formed article having board shape, for instance said woodymaterial W is made to pass through the former (4) to provide said woodymaterial W with the thickness to be roughly uniform with the comb roll(5) called a raker and further said woody material W is scratched andspread with the scratching roll (6) called a spreader roll as shownFIGS. 3 and 4. The extruder (1) to sprinkle said melted thermoplasticresin R is installed in the back of, and above said scratching roll (6)or said extruder (1) is installed between a pair of scratching rolls(6.6), and said scratched and spread woody material W is sprinkled andsupplied to said melted thermoplastic resin R from one side or bothsides to intertwine and then said raw material mixture Mx is strewed andpress formed on a compression roll press conveyer (7) or mold panels(10) being set on said conveyer (7) while said thermoplastic resin R issoftened. As shown in FIG. 5, a plural number of orifices may bearranged in one row or a plural number of rows in said die (1A).Further, said raw material mixture Mx in which said woody material W andsaid melted thermoplastic resin are mixed together as described above isstrewed on the conveyer (7A) for a while as shown in FIG. 7 and thethickness of said strewed raw material mixture Mx is smoothed to beroughly uniform with the comb roll (5A) of the former (4A) and furtherthe resulting mat of said woody material W having a roughly uniformthickness is again loosened and crushed with the scratching roll (6A) tostrew said loosened and crushed woody material W on said mold panel (10)or said compression roll press conveyer (7) connecting to a hot rollconveyer to form a mat. As described above, unevenness of the specificgravity of said raw material mixture Mx can be dissolved by forming fora while said mat through said former (4A).

In a case where the water content of said woody material W such as woodflakes is high, since the water contained in said woody material acts asa binder, for instance even if said thermoplastic resin (powderedfinely) is used, said powdered thermoplastic resin R uniformly adheresto said woody material W to interfere with the separation between saidwoody material W and said powdered thermoplastic resin R when said rawmaterial mixture Mx is scratched and spread.

Nevertheless in a case where said raw material mixture Mx is hot-pressedlater on according to the present invention, there is a problem thatwater vapor is generated from said woody material W by hot-pressing sothat the water content of said wood flake should be settled to be low,and in the case of powdered or chipped thermoplastic resin, said woodymaterial W and thermoplastic resin R are separated when said mixture Mxis scratched and spread since said mixture Mx contains a small quantityof water as a binder to form a mat, in which said thermoplastic resin Ris contained unevenly so that a high strength of the resulting productafter molding is hard to expect.

Accordingly, said thermoplastic resin R should be fibrous and/orribbon-shaped to be intertwined with said woody material, so that theproblem that said woody material W and said thermoplastic resin Rseparate when said mixture Mx is scratched and spread is solved.

To mold said mat M, said mat M may be hot-pressed with a press machineand the resulting molded mat M′ may be cooled by passing through a coldroll press, and in this case when said raw material mixture Mx isstrewed on a plural number of mold panels (10) which are arranged on themoving conveyer (7) to form mats as shown in FIG. 8, the productionefficiency may improved. In this case, since the resulting mats formedon said mold panels are soft, in order to prevent mat shape fromcrumbling and convey heat to the mat M easily during hot-pressing, thethickness of each mat is desirably compressed a little by compressingwith roll presses (13A, 14A) before hot-pressing. Further in this case,said hot-pressing is desirably applied by using hot roll presses (13B,14B) to improve the production efficiency since the continuousoperations become possible.

Further a method in which said raw material mixture Mx is streweddirectly on said conveyer (7) to form a mat as shown in FIG. 9 alsoimproves the production efficiency and the equipment for this method isinexpensive and economical. In this case, said molded mat M′ isdesirably cooled with cold rolls (13C, 14C).

Furthermore in the method in which said mats M are formed on said moldpanels (10) and hot-pressed with the pressing machine (24) as shown inFIG. 10, cooling process is desirably applied maintaining pressingcondition and when a plural number of units, each unit consisting ofsaid mat M and said mold panel, are piled in multi-stages to be pressedwith said compression machine (24), the production efficiency isimproved. In this case, commonly said units are piled in multi-stages onthe truck (25) as shown in FIG. 11, and carrying said truck (25) into aheating chamber with said piled units further improves the productionefficiency.

In a case where said mat M is formed on said mold panel (10), said moldpanel (10) has commonly flat mold surface, but an uneven pattern may beformed on said mold surface or in a case where said molded mat M′ iscooled by passing through said cold roll presses (13C, 14C), a boardshaped woody formed article having an uneven pattern on one side or bothsides can be produced, with embossing roll(s) (16A, 16B) having unevenpattern and being arranged on one side or both sides of said formed matM′ after said cold roll presses (13C, 14C) as shown in FIG. 9.

Still further a curving board shaped woody formed article can beproduced by using said panel mold having an arch or wave shaped moldsurface or by making said formed mat M′ pass through more than threepairs of hot press rolls arranged along an arch or wave line.

In addition said mat having multi layers structure such as two or threelayers structure may be formed. In the case of three layers structure,fine woody material such as a mixture of wood flakes and wood powder isused in the surface layers and rough woody material such as wood flakesare used in the core layer and thus a board shaped woody formed articlewhich is light and has smooth surface layers having a fine structure anda core layer having a rough structure and elasticity can be provided.

To produce a woody formed article having a shape except board shape,commonly said raw material mixture is filled in a case mold whose innersurface is a mold surface having a desired shape and said mixture filledin said case mold is pressed with an upper mold having a desired shapedmold surface to be molded by heating.

Heating means such as electric heating, high-frequency heating,electromagnetic heating, vapor heating and the like are applied in anyforming method.

Said fibrous or ribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin R holds a largequantity of air and most of this remains in the latter after it has beenhot-pressed as shown in FIG. 12, and in a case where said fibrous orribbon shaped thermoplastic resin R is melted, resulting the formationof many voids S within the article, the resultant product is of a lightweight. Further, said formed article is strong, durable, and holds nailsfirmly, making it an ideal material for roof sheathings, and the like.

Additionally, a preferable method to produce said woody formed articleof the present invention is a melt-blow method. In said method, hot windand/or cold wind is/are blown obliquely and downwardly against saidthermoplastic resin R extruded from the orifice of the die from bothsides to cut said thermoplastic resin R into short fiber or to stretchto thin into thin fiber. Said shortened or thinned fibrous thermoplasticresin R as described above does not cause the phase separation withoutinfluence of the mutual compatibility of each thermoplastic resin R in acase where said thermoplastic resin R is a mixture containing variouswaste thermoplastic articles without separation.

Accordingly in this method, waste thermoplastic articles are effectivelyrecycled without separation.

To produce said woody formed article of the present invention by abovedescribed method, first, said woody material W and said thermoplasticresin R in a melted state are mixed together. To mix said woody materialW and said fibrous thermoplastic resin R together, said thermoplasticresin R is melted and extruded vertically from the orifice of theextruder's die under a high pressure, and said woody material W issupplied to said continuous or intermittent fibrous thermoplastic resinR in a melted state from both sides or one side. Commonly mixing weightratio of said woody material to said fibrous thermoplastic resin issettled to be in the range of between 20:80 and 90:10.

In the above described process, said fibrous thermoplastic resin R in amelted state is stretched and thinned by hot wind pressure or cold windpressure and is intertwined with said woody material W by accompanyingflow (minus pressure range) generated by said hot wind and/or said coldwind so that the resulting mixture becomes uniform. In a case where coldwind is used, high wind pressure can be exerted to promote thestretching of said fibrous thermoplastic resin R in a melted state.

Adding to this, said fibrous thermoplastic resin R in a melted statemeans fibrous thermoplastic resin R which is in a melted state so as tobe stretched and thinned by hot wind pressure and/or cold wind pressureand it is not always necessary that said thermoplastic resin R is whollymelted, and solid thermoplastic resin R may be partially contained insaid thermoplastic resin R in a melted state. To put it concretely, saidchip or pellet shaped thermoplastic resin is supplied into the extruder(40) through the hopper (41) arranged in the root part of said extruder(40), and said thermoplastic resin R is heated and melted in saidextruder (40) and then extruded into the die (42) as shown in FIG. 15.After that said thermoplastic resin is extruded from an orifice (43) ofsaid die (42) in fibrous shape as shown in FIG. 16. A pair of jets (44)are arranged in both sides of said orifice (43) of said die (42) and hotwind supplied from a hot wind supplying path (45) to said jets (44) isblown obliquely and downwardly to said extruded thermoplastic resin R tostretch and thin.

A plural number of said orifices (42) are desirably arranged in a linein said die (42) as shown in FIG. 17 and in this case said hot wind jets(44) are slits arranged along both sides of said orifices line (43).

The caliber φ₁ of said orifice (43) of said die (42) is desirably in therange from 0.2 to 2.0 mm and in the case of the orifice having a caliberφ₁ below 0.2 mm, said orifice is apt to be clogged with said meltedthermoplastic resin R, especially impurities contained in melted wastethermoplastic resin, and in the case of the orifice having a caliber φ₁over 2.0, said extruded thermoplastic resin R is not thinned well whenstretched and uniform mixing said thermoplastic resin with said woodymaterial becomes difficult.

As shown in FIG. 16, in the case of orifice having a caliber φ₁ in therange from 0.2 to 2.0, the diameter φ₂ of said fibrous thermoplasticresin R extruded from said orifice (43) after stretching and thinningbecomes in the range from 0.05 to 0.8 mm and in this range, said orifice(43) is not clogged and said extruded fibrous thermoplastic resin R canbe mixed uniformly with said woody material W.

To produce said woody formed article continuously, a pair of woodymaterial supplying conveyers (46, 46) are arranged just under both sidesof a set of said orifices (43) and said woody material W on eachsupplying conveyer (46, 46) is strewed with strewing rolls (47, 47)arranged at the end part of each supplying conveyer (46, 46) and saidstrewed woody material is mixed with said fibrous thermoplastic resin Rextruded from said set of said orifices (43) downwardly and beingstretched and thinned by hot wind pressure.

In this case, said extruded thermoplastic resin R keeps its melted stateby being heated by hot wind and said woody material W is sucked towardsaid thermoplastic resin R by the accompanying flow (minus pressurerange) formed in both sides of said thermoplastic resin R by said hotwind pressure and as a result, said woody material W, especially flakeshaped woody material, wood flakes, spin around said extrudedthermoplastic resin R and said wood flakes contact with saidthermoplastic resin R being stretched and thinned, to be intertwinedwith said thermoplastic resin R in a melted state, so that saidthermoplastic resin R in a melted state and said woody material Waremixed uniformly and said stretching and thinning of said extrudedthermoplastic resin R are accelerated by the weight of said wood flakes.

As described above, after said melted thermoplastic resin R and saidwoody material W are mixed uniformly and then the resulting mixture Mxaccumulates on mold panels (10) arranged on a conveyer (48) and saidmixture accumulating on said mold panels (10) is sent to a roll press ormold press (not shown in the Figures) to be molded into a board shape bypressing.

A plural number of orifices (43) may be arranged in plural rows such astwo rows in said die (52) as shown FIG. 19. In this case saidthermoplastic resins R extruded from orifices (43) sets in both rows areoriented so as to approach mutually being stretched and thinned by hotwind pressure and said woody material W is supplied to saidthermoplastic rein R strings before said thermoplastic resin R stringsextruded from orifices (43) sets in both rows join together. After thatsaid two sets of said thermoplastic resin R strings are intertwined withsaid woody material W and then said two sets of said thermoplastic resinR strings join together and said melted thermoplastic resin R and saidwoody material W are mixed uniformly, and the resulting mixture Mx isaccumulated on mold panels (10) on said conveyer (48) to form mats. In acase were orifices (43) are arranged in two rows supplying quantity ofsaid melted thermoplastic resin R (resin quantity extruded fromorifices) becomes twice comparing with that in the case of one row sothat supplying quantity of said woody material W is settled to be twicecorresponding to supplying quantity of said melted thermoplastic resin Rand conveying speed of mold panels (10) is also settled to be twice.Accordingly, the output of said woody formed articles become twice.

FIG. 20 shows a case in which orifices (43) are arranged in three rowsin said die (62). In this case the thermoplastic resin R stringsextruded from orifices (43) in the middle row are not much stretched andthinned by hot wind from said die, while the thermoplastic resin Rstrings extruded from orifices (43) in both sides are stretched andthinned and said woody material W is supplied to the stretched andthinned thermoplastic resin R strings. Said stretched and thinnedthermoplastic resin R strings, being intertwined with said woodymaterial W, join said thermoplastic resin R strings which has beenextruded from orifices (43) in the middle row and not much stretched andthinned, from both sides. Accordingly, the resulting mixture Mx ofthermoplastic resin R and said woody material W is accumulated on eachmold panel (10) on said conveyer (48) to form a mat having two layerstructure.

In this case, supplying quantity resin (quantity extruded from orifices)of said melted thermoplastic resin R becomes three times so thatsupplying quantity of said woody material W is settled to be three timesand conveying speed of mold panels (10) is also settled to be threetimes. Accordingly, the output of said woody formed articles becomethree time.

Said thermoplastic resin R extruded from said orifice can be stretchedand thinned by cold wind from said die instead of hot wind as shown inFIG. 21. In FIG. 21, a pair of slanting racks (46A, 46A) are connectedwith the front-ends of a pair of woody material W supplying conveyers(46, 46) on both sides respectively and a pair of cold wind introducingpaths (46B, 46B) are arranged under said slanting racks (46A, 46A)respectively to blow cold wind to said extruded thermoplastic resin Rfrom said cold wind introducing paths (46B, 46B). In this case, saidextruded thermoplastic resin R to which cold wind contacts is not muchstretched since said extruded thermoplastic resin R is cooled by saidcold wind, but said orifice of said die is heated and said extrudedthermoplastic resin R is still in its melted state so that thestretching and thinning of said extruded thermoplastic resin areaccelerated between said orifice and said cold wind. Further in the caseof cold wind, heat energy to prepare hot wind is not necessary so that abig quantity of wind can be provided and the process can be doneeconomically and effectively. Furthermore, said stretching and thinningof said thermoplastic resin R can be controlled by blowing only coldwind from said die, stopping hot wind, since much bigger quantity ofcold wind can be provided from said die comparing with hot wind and thecontrol of said stretching and thinning can be easily performed.

Still further, in a case where a panel type jet blowing cold wind isemployed, said panel type jet can be used as a guide to supply saidwoody material W, so that said extruded thermoplastic resin R can beintertwined more effectively with said woody material W. In addition, apair of hot wind supplying paths (45A, 45A) may be arranged between hotwind from said die (42) and cold wind from underside of said slantingracks (46A, 46A) and hot wind may be blown to said thermoplastic resin Rfrom said hot wind supplying paths (45A, 45A) to stretch and fine saidthermoplastic resin R. In this case, since said extruded thermoplasticresin is kept hot just before cold wind contacts with it, it can bestretched and thinned more thinly.

Additionally in a case where three dies (42A, 42B, 42C) are arrangedstepwise and said die (42) arranged in middle and higher position andtwo dies (42B, 42C) arranged in both sides and lower positions and apair of cold wind introducing paths (46B, 46B) are arranged in the underand outer positions of said lower dies (42B, 42C) as shown in FIG. 23,accumulating quantity of said mixture of said thermoplastic resin R andsaid woody material W can be increased and a mat having three layers canbe formed.

In said producing process of said woody formed article, to keep a gooddispersing state of said thermoplastic resin R, said woody material W isdesirably supplied by heating. In a case where said woody material W isheated, said melted thermoplastic resin R can be intertwined with andadhere to said woody material W strongly to prevent separation betweensaid woody material W and said thermoplastic resin R.

To heat said woody material W as described above, net conveyers are usedas supplying conveyers (46, 46) and said woody material W on saidsupplying conveyers (46, 46) is heated by hot wind being circulated andheated, during circulation (as indicated by the arrows) with hot aircirculation apparatuses (49, 49) as shown FIG. 24. In this system, saidwoody material W is effectively heated and dried. Further said system isdesirably put in a room (50) to keep warm.

As described above, in a case where said mixture Mx of said meltedthermoplastic resin R and said woody material W accumulating on eachmold panel (10) in mat shape is press-molded just after said mixture Mxaccumulates on each mold panel, the heat still remains in said mixtureMx so that it is not necessary to heat said mixture Mx again, improvingproductivity and heat efficiency. In a case where said mixture Mx ispress-molded after time has passed since said mixture Mx has accumulatedon the mold panel, said mixture Mx is press-molded by heating but sincesaid thermoplastic resin has been melted once, the heat efficiency ismuch higher than that of the mixture which is prepared by cold blend.

Further in a case where a plural number of said woody material supplyingconveyers (46) and a plural number of dies (42) are arranged inmulti-stages as shown in FIG. 25, productivity can be much improved.

Furthermore in a case where said woody material supplying conveyers (46,46) are set up so as to oscillate right and left as shown in FIG. 26 orsaid woody material supplying conveyers (46, 46) and said die (42) areset up so as to move reciprocally right and left along width directionan uniform mat M can be formed on each mold panel (10) on a conveyer(48) as shown in FIG. 27. A plural number of said woody materialsupplying conveyers which can oscillate or a plural number of said woodymaterial supplying conveyers which can move reciprocally along widthdirection and a plural number of dies may be arranged in multi-stages asshown in FIG. 25.

Still further said woody material supplying conveyers (46, 46) and saidconveyer (48) may be arranged so as to cross at right angles and saiddie (42) may arranged laterally, and said supplying conveyers (46, 46)and said die (42) may be set up so as to move reciprocally along widthdirection as shown in FIG. 28. In this system, a uniform mat M also canbe formed on each mold panel (10) on said conveyer (48).

In addition, a plural number of said supplying conveyers and dies may bearranged in multi-stages along lateral line.

As described above, in a case where said mat M accumulating on each moldpanel (10) still maintains its heated state just after said mat isformed on each mold panel (10), said mat is molded with a coldcompression machine, cold press machine, cold milling roll machine andthe like and in a case where said mat M is cooled after time has passedsince said mat M has been formed on each mold panel (10), said mat ismolded with a hot press machine, hot roll press machine or the like andthe resulting formed mat M′ is cooled and fixed with a cold pressmachine, cold roll press machine, or the like.

Additionally, the structures shown in FIG. 17, FIG. 19, and FIGS. 24 to28 are of course applied to systems shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 in whichhot wind and/or cold wind is(are) not blown from both sides of saidorifice.

EXAMPLE 1

Waste polypropylene sheets were heated and melted and extruded infibrous shape from said extruder (1) shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and saidmelted fibrous polypropylene was added to wood flakes W (size 4 to 8mm×20 to 25 mm×0.5 to 1 mm) in a mixer (3) which was heated and keptwarm, and mixed for 1 minute by stirring. Mixing ratio of said resin tosaid wood flakes was said fibrous thermoplastic resin R 50% by weight,said wood flakes W 50% by weight. In said raw material mixture A, sincesaid fibrous polypropylene (thermoplastic resin R) was added and mixedin said wood flakes W, maintaining its heated and softened state, saidfibrous polypropylene (thermoplastic resin R) was melted beingintertwined with said wood flakes ununiformly as shown in FIG. 6.

Further said fibrous thermoplastic resin R was intertwined with eachother between said wood flakes.

Said raw material mixture Mx was made to pass through the former (4) andits thickness was made even with the comb roll (5) and said mixture Mxwas again scratched and spread with the scratching roll (6) as shown inFIG. 3 to be supplied directly on the conveyer part (7) of the frontcompression roll press part (13A, 14A) of a pair of roll presses (13,14) arranged up and down shown in FIG. 9, and the thickness of saidmixture Mx was compressed to arrange the shape with said compressingroll press part (13A, 14A) and then the resulting mat M of said mixtureMx was press-molded by heating at a temperature in the range of between180 and 220° C. (press pressure 6 MPa) with the roll press part (13B,14B) of said roll presses (13, 14) heated by hot wind in the heatingchamber (15). The resulting formed mat M′ was cooled with the rear coldroll press part (13C, 14C) of said roll presses (13, 14) arranging theshape of said mat (gap between rolls 12.0 mm, pressing pressure 0.5MPa). After cooling, both surfaces of said formed mat M′ were embossedwith the pair of embossing rolls (16A, 16B) arranged up and down totransfer said formed and embossed mat M′ to a conveyer (18) and said matM′ was cut with the cutter (17) in a designated size to prepare a boardshaped test piece 1.

In said board shaped test piece 1, said wood flakes W adhere mutually bysaid fibrous, melted thermoplastic resin R as shown in FIG. 12 and saidfibrous thermoplastic resin R is intertwined with and adheres to saidwood flakes W ununiformly and said fibrous thermoplastic resin R isintertwined mutually between said wood flakes so that the surface ofeach wood flake is covered and sealed with said thermoplastic resin Rbut a lot of voids S remain in the resulting board after press-moldingand a light woody formed article can be provided.

EXAMPLE 2

Waste polyethylene sheets were cut into ribbon-shape with a shredder.

A raw material mixture Mx of 50% by weight of said ribbon-shapepolyethylene (thermoplastic resin R), 25% by weight of wood flake W, and25% by weight of wood powder (pass through a mesh having opening whosediameter is 1 mm) was prepared by stirring and mixing in Irich mixer andsaid mixture Mx was strewed on mold panels (10) moving on a rollconveyer (7) by using the former (4) in the same manner as in EXAMPLE 1as shown in FIG. 8 to form a mat M on each mold panel (10). Thethickness of said mat M is compressed a little with the compressing rollpress part (13A, 14A) to arrange its shape and then press molded withhot roll presses (13A, 14A) by heating at a temperature in the rangefrom 120 to 170° C. (6 MPa), Said formed mat M′ was cooled with the coldroll press part (13C, 14C) (5 MPa, gap between rolls 12.0 mm) to producea board shaped test piece 2.

EXAMPLE 3

Waste non-woven fabric made of polyester fiber was roughly crushed withan uniaxial shredder and further splitted with a double disk refiner toproduce reclaimed fiber. Using said reclaimed fiber, a mixture B havinga composition as described below was prepared.

Reclaimed fiber 50% by weight Wood flakes (EXAMPLE1) 25% by weight Woodpowder (EXAMPLE2) 25% by weight

Said mixture B was strewed on each mold panel (10) to form a mat M, asshown in FIG. 8 and said mat M was introduced into the hot roll presses(13B, 14B) heated at a temperature in the range of between 250 and 280°C. with said mold panel (10), and compressed to reduce gradually thethickness of said mat M. In this case, maximum pressing pressure is 6MPa and gap of rolls is 12.0 mm. As described above a board shaped testpiece 3 was prepared.

EXAMPLE 4

Waste article made of polypropylene was crushed and melted and extrudedfrom the extruder (1) shown in FIG. 2 in fiber shape and while saidmelted polypropylene maintains its heated state, said wood flakes W inthe same manner as in EXAMPLE 1 was scratched and spread with thescratching roll (6) of the former (4) and strewed on the roll conveyer(7) being intertwined with said fibrous polypropylene. The resultingmixture was press-molded by heating at a temperature in the range ofbetween 180 and 220° C., and pressing pressure 6 MPa with hot rollpresses (13B, 14B) and then the resulting formed mat M′ was cooled withthe cold roll presses (13C, 14C) (pressing pressure 0.5 MPa, gap ofrolls 12.0 mm) to prepare a board shaped test piece 4.

EXAMPLE 5

Said mixture A prepared in EXAMPLE 1 was strewed on the mold panel (10)to form a mat M and the a plural number of units consisting of the moldpanel (10) and said mat M were piled putting spacers (thickness 12 mm)between said units in multistage (10 to 15 stages) as shown in FIG. 10and then said units piled in multistage were introduced into thecompression machine (24) to be pressed between the lower base plate(24A) and the upper base plate (24B), and the fixing arm (24C) of saidupper base plate (24B) was clamped to the fixing flange (24D) of saidlower base plate (24A) with the clamping rod (24E). In this case,pressing pressure is settled to be 6 MPa.

As described above, a plural number of said mats M piled were pressed bythe compression machine (24) and put on the truck (25) to be introducedinto the heating chamber to be heated at a temperature in the range ofbetween 180 and 250° C. for about 60 to 90 minutes. After being heated,said mats were extruded from said heating chamber with the truck (25)and kept at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours maintaining its pressedstate to be cooled to 100° C. After cooling, the pressure was releasedto take out the resulting formed mats M′ as a board shaped test piece 5.

EXAMPLE 6

Said mixture A prepared in EXAMPLE 1 was strewed on the mold panel (10)to form a mat M and the other mold panel (10) was put on said mat M, anda plural number of units consisting of a pair of said mold panels (10)and said mat were inserted in the multistage hot-pressing machine (30)as shown in FIG. 13 and press-molded by heating at a temperature in therange of between 180 and 250° C., pressure 6 MPa. After press molding,the pressure was released and the resulting formed mats M′ with moldpanels (10) were inserted into the cold press (31) as shown in FIG. 14to be cooled arranging the shape under pressure 0.5 MPa to prepare aboard shaped test piece 6.

EXAMPLE 7

Using raw materials described in EXAMPLE 2, the mixtures havingcompositions as described below were prepared.

Mixture used for surface layers Resin 50% by weight Wood flakes 25% byweight Mixture used for core layers Resin 30% by weight Wood flakes 70%by weight

Said mixture used for surface layers was strewed on the mold panel (10)on the moving roll conveyer and said mixture used for core layer wasstrewed on said strewed mixture used for surface layers and further saidmixture used for surface layers was strewed on said strewed mixture forcore layer to form a mat M having three layers structure. Said mat M washot-pressed in the range from 120 to 170° C. in the same manner as inEXAMPLE 2 and cooled to prepare a board shaped test piece 7 having threelayer structure.

Physical properties of said test pieces 1 to 7 were shown in table 1.

TABLE 1 breaking bending holding water thickness swelling rate strength× strength flexibility strength absorption by water absorbing boardshaped 10³N N/mm² mm specific N 24 hr-% 24 hr-% test piece *1 *1 *1gravity *2 *3 *3 EXAMPLES 1 0.96 26.00 3.8 0.63 700 16 3.1 2 0.98 27.003.5 0.65 720 19 3.2 3 1.00 30.00 2.9 0.68 750 18 3.2 4 0.95 25.00 4.30.62 650 16 3.1 5 0.97 26.00 4.0 0.63 710 18 3.1 6 0.95 25.00 3.6 0.64700 17 3.2 7 1.30 34.00 3.4 0.71 800 18 3.1 *1 following JISA1408 *2following ASTMD1037 (using nail: 3φring nail) *3 following JISA5905

EXAMPLE 8

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 19, 500 orifices (43) were arranged inone line, the caliber φ₁, of each orifice being 1.5 mm, and the intervalbetween said orifices was 5 mm and a pair of said orifices line werearranged in said die (52), interval between said orifices lines being 50mm.

Waste articles made of polypropylene were crushed and heated and meltedin the extruder to supply to said die (52) and said melted polypropyleneR was extruded from said orifices (43) in a fibrous state. Said melted,extruded polypropylene R was stretched and thinned by blowing hot windheated at 200° C. After said stretching and thinning, the diameter ofthe resulting fibrous polypropylene was about 0.5.

As woody material W, wood flakes which were prepared by scrapping ofwood thinned out (size; width 4 to 8 mm, length 20 to 25 mm, thickness0.5 to 1 mm) were used. Said woody material W was put on a pair ofsupplying conveyers (46, 46) and supplied to said melted, extrudedpolypropylene R from both sides with strewing rolls (47) and saidmelted, extruded fibrous polypropylene R was intertwined with said woodflakes W, and said melted, extruded polypropylene and said wood flakeswere uniformly mixed and accumulated on the mold panel (10) on theconveyer (48) to form a mat. Mixing weight ratio of said wood flakes tosaid polypropylene was settled to be 6:4. The resulting mixture Mxaccumulating on said mold panel was molded into board shape with themilling roll press and then cooled with the cold roll press to produce awoody article. Size of said woody formed article sample was width 100cm, length 180 cm, thickness 12 mm and bending strength of said samplewas 340 kgf/cm², and specific gravity in completely drying state was0.71.

EXAMPLE 9

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 22, the same die, the same kind ofthermoplastic resin R, and the same kind of woody material W as used inEXAMPLE 8 were used and hot wind at 200° C. was blown against melted,extruded thermoplastic resin R in two stages from the hot wind supplyingpaths (45, 45A) and then cold wind at 20° C. from the cold wind applyingpath (46B) was blown against said thermoplastic resin R to stretch andthin. In this case, the diameter of the nozzle was 1.5 mm and thediameter of fibrous thermoplastic resin R after stretching was about 0.1mm.

After said thermoplastic resin R and said woody material W were mixedtogether, said mixture was hot-pressed at 200° C. with the hot-pressmachine (pressing pressure 6.0 MPa) and then, the resulting formedmixture was arranged in shape with the cold press (pressing pressure 0.6MPa, gap of rolls 12 mm) to produce a woody formed article (width 100mm,. length 180 mm, thickness 12 mm). Bending strength of said woodyformed article was 350 kg/cm², and specific gravity in completely dryingstate was 0.71.

EXAMPLE 10

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 21, the same die, the same kind ofthermoplastic resin R, and the same kind of woody material W as used inEXAMPLE 8 were used, and only cold wind at 20° C. was blown againstmelted, extruded thermoplastic resin R from the cold wind applying path(46B), stopping hot wind from the hot wind applying path (45) of thedie, thus, said melted, extruded thermoplastic resin R was stretched andthinned. In this case the diameter of the nozzle was 1.5 mm, and thediameter of fibrous thermoplastic resin after stretching was 0.6 mm.

After said thermoplastic resin R and woody material W were mixedtogether, said mixture was hot-pressed at 200° C. with the hot-pressmachine (pressing pressure 6.0 MPa) and then, the resulting formedmixture was arranged in shape with the cold press (pressing pressure(0.6 MPa) to produce a woody formed article. Bending strength of saidwoody formed article was 360 kg/cm², and specific gravity in completelydrying state was 0.78.

As a comparison, crushed waste article made of polypropylene (powder)and wood flake W were mixed and said mixture was hot-pressed to producea woody formed article. Bending strength of said woody formed articlewas 160 kgf/cm², lower than bending strength of woody formed articlesproduced in EXAMPLES. The reason why bending strength in the comparisonwas lower than those in EXAMPLES seems that crushed waste articles(powder) disperse incompletely in the mixture and there are some partsin which resin component does not exist between woody materials.

POSSIBILITY OF INDUSTRIAL USE

Since fibrous or ribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin which is easilyintertwined with woody material is used as a binder of woody material inthe present invention, said woody material and fibrous or ribbon-shapedthermoplastic resin are uniformly mixed together without separation andair can be put in during mixing.

Further said fibrous or ribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin is intertwinedwith said woody material and melted to adhere to said woody material sothat a high formed and light article having a high strength, a lot ofvoids existing in said formed article can be provided.

Furthermore in a case where woody material is supplied to said heatedand melted fibrous thermoplastic resin, said thermoplastic resinuniformly disperses in woody material to produce a woody formed articlehaving a high strength.

In particular, in a case where said heated and melted fibrousthermoplastic resin is stretched and thinned by hot wind pressure and/orcold wind pressure, said woody material and said thermoplastic resin aremore uniformly mixed so that a woody formed articles having higherstrength can be provided.

Said woody formed article of the present invention is useful as buildingboards and material for furniture such as wall boards, floor boards,roof sheathings, seat panels of a chair, table panels and the like, andcar interiors such as door trim, rear parcels and the like.

1. A woody formed article produced by molding a raw material mixtureprepared by mixing woody material, and fibrous and/or ribbon-shapedthermoplastic resin in a heated and melted state.
 2. A woody formedarticle in accordance with claim 1 wherein said fibrous and/orribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin is (are) made of waste articles ofsaid thermoplastic resin.
 3. A woody formed article in accordance withclaim 1, wherein said woody material is wood flake.
 4. A method forproducing a woody formed article comprising press-molding a mat of rawmaterial mixture containing woody material and fibrous and/orribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin in a heated and melted state.
 5. Amethod for producing a woody formed article comprising a strewing rawmaterial mixture containing woody material and fibrous and/orribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin in a heated and melted state to form amat on a conveyer moving to a designated direction or on a mold panelset on said conveyer and press-molding said mat.
 6. A method forproducing a woody formed article in accordance with claim 4, wherein anuneven pattern is formed on one side or both sides of said mat byembossing after said press-molding.
 7. A method for producing a woodyformed article comprising press-molding a mat of raw material mixturecontaining woody material and fibrous and/or ribbon-shaped thermoplasticresin wherein heated and melted thermoplastic resin is extruded from anorifice of an extruder's die in fibrous and/or ribbon shape and saidextruded, fibrous and/or ribbon shaped thermoplastic resin extruded fromorifice is mixed with said woody material in melted state.
 8. A methodfor producing a woody formed article in accordance with claim 7, whereinsaid woody material is continuously supplied to and mixed in said heatedand melted thermoplastic resin from one side or both sides.
 9. A methodfor producing a woody formed article in accordance with claim 7, whereinsaid heated and melted thermoplastic resin is extruded from said orificeof said extruder's die and stretched and thinned by air that is eitherheated or cooled and said stretched and thinned fibrous thermoplasticresin is mixed with said woody material in a melted state.
 10. A methodfor producing a woody formed article comprising press-molding a mat ofraw material mixture containing woody material and fibrous and/orribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin wherein plural numbers of orifices ofan extruder's die are arranged in one row or a plural number of rows.11. A method for producing a woody formed article comprisingpress-molding a mat of raw material mixture containing woody materialand fibrous and/or ribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin wherein a pluralnumber of dies are arranged in plural stages.
 12. A method for producinga woody formed article comprising press-molding a mat of raw materialmixture containing woody material and fibrous and/or ribbon-shapedthermoplastic resin wherein an orifice of an extruder's die for saidthermoplastic resin has a caliber in the range of between 0.2 and 2.0mm.
 13. A method for producing a woody formed article in accordance withclaim 4, wherein said fibrous or ribbon-shaped thermoplastic resin ismade of waste articles of said thermoplastic resin.
 14. A method forproducing a woody formed article in accordance with claim 4, whereinsaid woody material is wood flakes.